Wings of Fire as Humans: Jade Preparatory Academy

Chapter Five: Tsunami Hurricane

Tsunami Hurricane burst through the doors of her family's manor, relieved to be done with the day's events. First, she'd had to take the last three Jade Preparatory Academy beginning exams: science, foreign languages, and math. She'd probably failed all of them. Second, she'd gone to the Paradise mansion for her friend's birthday and almost been killed by a bomb. Third, her brother had spent the entire walk home fretting about his exams, teasing her about her crush, and wondering whether Kinkajou was okay. Now, she was looking forward to some nice peace and quiet. Or rather, peace and blasting loud music from the speakers in her room.

No such luck.

"Tsunami!"

That was the voice of Whirlpool Loggerhead, her stepfather and professor of writing at Jade Preparatory Academy.

Beside her, Turtle groaned. "What did you do this time?" he asked.

"Nothing, I swear! I only, um, covered his favorite tie in oil paints."

"Tsunami! That's not nothing!" Turtle could be so annoying sometimes, with his you're-in-so-much-trouble attitude.

"It's not bad enough for me to be grounded, either," she grumbled.

"Tsunami Hurricane." Whirlpool came around the corner, looking absolutely furious.

Uh-oh.

"I know you did this." He held up a tie covered in pink, blue, and orange splotches. You could barely tell it was even a tie. "You put oil paints on my tie. If I had half a mind, I'd forbid you from going to the Academy this semester. But, fortunately for you, Her Imperial Majesty wouldn't allow it." He sniffed. "Once you're accepted, there's no going back. So I'll settle for not letting you come with us to pick out your school supplies this year."

Whirlpool probably thought that was the worst punishment ever. But really? It wasn't. Tsunami knew Thorn would let her stay at the Sizzle mansion for the day, and since Sunny, Qibli, and probably at least three of their other friends would be there, missing shopping was the best punishment she'd ever received.

"Okay," she told Whirlpool. "Have fun tomorrow." She turned away from him and Turtle and strolled away to her room.

The Loggerhead manor was the biggest house in the neighborhood. Tsunami had eleven siblings - three biological siblings, though one was dead, three stepbrothers, five half-siblings - and each had their own room (and bathroom). Plus Whirlpool and her mother, Coral, and five guest rooms. That equaled seventeen bedrooms, twenty bathrooms, plus the indoor and outdoor pools, the kitchen, three living rooms, two dining rooms, the movie theater, and the library. Oh, and they had a family of servants, who lived in the basement.

On the way to her room from the entry hall, Tsunami went up three flights of stairs, passed ten bedrooms, the kitchen, one dining room, the indoor pool room, and the entrance to the basement. In all, it took her a total of five whole minutes to get to her room.

Tsunami opened the door and flopped down on her bed, pulled out her phone, and began checking her email.

As she watched, one appeared at the top of her screen. Tsunami clicked it and read,

Dear Tsunami Hurricane,

       Congratulations! Your exam results are in! On your history exam, you scored 7% in the lowest result bracket. On your math exam, you scored 13% in the lowest result bracket. On your foreign language exam, you scored 2% in the lowest result bracket. On your science exam, you scored 15% in the second-lowest result bracket. On your music exam, you scored 5% in the lowest result bracket. On your art exam, you scored 20% in the lowest result bracket. On your physical education exam, you scored 56% in the second-highest result bracket. On your writing exam, you scored 7% in the lowest result bracket.